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Switching Hands from Snake Position

As you probably have figured out by now, there are myriad ways of switching a cane from one hand to the other in Modern Arnis.

In the above video, Master Chuck demonstrates switching the cane from his right hand to his left hand from the snake position.

After switching to his left hand, he demonstrates two options:

(1) A thrust to the face; or(2) Feeding the punyo and executing the obstruction removal.

The more comfortable that you are in switching hands, the more possibilities that you will begin to see. This concept should readily translate to empty hand self defence.

Some may wonder about Modern Arnis’ emphasis on switching hands.

The founder of Modern Arnis, Professor Remy A. Presas, was a lefty. Growing up in the Philippines, he learned how to use a cane in both hands, thus making him unbeatable in stick fights. So when he moved to the US, he insisted on his students learning both right and left hand techniques. Among those techniques were various ways of switching a cane from one side to the other.

The effect is that the student becomes adept in their non-dominant hand should their dominant hand be incapacitated.

For this reason, learning switching hands is important.

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If you or your child are interested in enrolling in Filipino martial arts classes in the Durham Region (Ajax, Whitby, Oshawa), Bamboo Spirit Martial Arts is the place!